Blu-ray Review HTF Blu-Ray Review: Transformers (Highly Recommended) (1 Viewer)

[Michael Reuben]

I don't know about "good enough", but DD was extremely good, and a marked improvement over prior formats, given the limitations on bandwidth and storage capacity that existed when DD first appeared (and for quite some time thereafter). It was never intended, nor did anyone expect it, to be the last audio format we'd ever need.

M.

 

[Ed St. Clair]

Yes, that was always the problem. Just the HD DVD DD track was much lower than any avg. soundtrack. It really threw people off (and turn them off as well).
Specifically, people had 'problems' w/the "shockwave" scene.
My problem w/the HD DVD DD soundtrack was the scene from the gunship (helicopter) that started off w/the second badguy transformer (in the desert) standoff. It's the shot though the copter looking down; man when that gun opened up in the theater, it was my fave gun blast of ALL time! Visceral, even. Could never dup that w/my HT, no matter how high I turned it up (other bombastic sounds shook the room; like the opening badguy transformer attack). Just at home I could never get the: beat "Predator" & "T2" gun sounds.

 

[DavidJ]

Absolutely. Improper settings and connections often keep people from getting the most out of their home theaters and as more people enter the hobby it is good to point out common problems.

And for the other discussion that is dominating this thread I would recommend that everyone read this article:

Signal to Noise - Dolby TrueHD & DTS-HD MA vs. Uncompressed PCM | Home Entertainment

It was originally posted by Phil Iturralde in another thread. It is an excellent read.

 

[Dave Moritz]

Hey DavidJ, thanks for posting that link, it was an interesting read.


I was not aware that there where many Dolby Digital Plus tracks on Blu-rays. I am sure there are a few like King Of California, but I thought that HD-DVD was where the majority of DD+ tracks ended up?

But that article was a really good read and was well written.

 

[Jari K]

Like Dave said, I´m also one of those people, that 90% of the time chose DTS-release over DD (back in the SD DVD-days). Of course, there were other factors as well (extras - or lack of them - and the fact, that there are some truly mediocre DTS-mixes out there)..

With Blu-ray-titles, I´ll be choosing lossless/PCM (I don´t really care which one, as long as it´s PCM, Dolby TrueHD or DTS-HD MA) over DD/DD+.

"Transformers" with lossless = good enough for me = good news (then again, I´m not a huge fan of the film, so...). Blu-ray just delivers the goods.

( Still, I can live with "plain" DD also if it comes to that. Not the end of the world.. )

I don´t fully see, what´s the "argument" here. I thought, that most of us like the lossless audio... (except Filmmixer, of course..)

 

[DavidJ]

I think that is true, but the article it more interested in a comparison of the original audio with the different codecs available and DD+ does quite in the objective testing. Still, from a marketing standpoint I doubt we will see it as much as we did in the days of HD DVD.

 

[Todd smith]

That has NOTHING to do with the codec being used, that is something you dont like about the mix. TrueHD will NOT improve that in any way as the mix is the exact same between the DD+ and TrueHD.

 

[Ed St. Clair]

Where do I say it has anything too do w/the codec/format being used?
The only times I mention "HD DVD DD" is too identify which soundtrack I'm addressing.

 

[Todd smith]

Sorry. My post was a copy and past to a dif response in another forum and I got things all screwed up. My post had nothing to do with your quote that I quoted. I dont even remember what I was going to say in ref to your quote.

 

[Ed St. Clair]

Ha, ha!

After my post about your post...
I started read the other new posts on this thread and thought...
he's not talking 'bout mine!
That will teach ya too leave HTF! ;-)

EDitEDbyED:
I think we're all in agreement things don't sound good for the old HD Disc.

 

[Dave Moritz]

This Blu-ray is going to be one the first titles I play through my new future Denon AVR-2809ci with a Panasonic BD30K Blu-ray.

I can not wait to do an a/b between the DD+ on the HD-DVD and the Dolby True HD Blu-ray. Granted I am going to do that with my current system but will repeat it when the once the new equipment gets purchased and set up.

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

Sweet review.

This was my most anticipated DVD and now it's my most anticipated BD.

I can't wait to gawk at all the minute details that are present in the body designs of the Autobots and Decepticons, they scream to be beheld on BD!

 

[Carlo_M]

Disc does indeed look and sound sweet (probably my new reference disc).

However it now also has a dubious distinction: longest to load on my PS3. I don't know if it will take as long to load each subsequent time, but the first time I popped in the disc on my PS3 it took well over a minute to get off of the loading screen. Other BD-J discs that have a minute-plus load time on other BD players load in mere seconds on the PS3. I guess I got spoiled by that. This is the first BD-J disc I have that has taken so long to load.

 

[Ron-P]

That's odd Carlo, I just spun this on my PS3 with not loading problems at all, fired right up.

While I find the image is on par with the HD-DVD the audio is not. While the upgrade to the TrueHD track is not huge over the previous DD+ it's noticeable, quite noticeable. From the voices sounding clearer and more detailed, to the overall sound stage being bigger and more enveloping, to the films score right down to the small little sound details that I know I did not hear on my HD-DVD. It's quite a noticeable improvement and worth the upgrade just for that TrueHD track.

 

[Dave H]

I finished watching this tonight and a reference quality A/V disc indeed. Awesome film-like image and great TrueHD track. Watched on a Pioneer 51FD.

 

[Carlo_M]

Ron, what firmware are you running? I'm on 2.42.

Some time later this week I'll pop the disc in again and see if it takes as long to load.

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

This raises a question that i've been meaning to ask PS3 owners, is it possible to upgrade the firmware the way you can upgrade the FW on a stand-alone BD player? It's easy with stand-alone players, just burn the file to an image disc, pop it in and let it do it's thing but i'm curious about PS3's.

Thanks.

I'm dying for this disc but I have to wait until Friday! :frowning: Good to know that I won't be disappointed, especially since I never owned the HD-DVD version just the SD DVD.

 

[pitchman]

Ed, I watched the Blu-ray Transformers last night and there IS an Iron Man trailer on disc 1. IIRC it is the theatrical trailer. The easiest way to get to it is to go to the scenes menu and select the chapter with the end credits. Fast forward through to the end of the credits and press play just prior to very end. When the film ends, a pop-up menu will appear containing the Iron Man trailer and two additional Transformers trailers.

 

[Jari K]

Yes, but it´s much easier via Internet. Only reason NOT to upgrade the firmware via net (PS3) would be the lack of Internet-connection... It´s that easy.

 

[Ron-P]

2.3 I believe. The update that gave it the ability to decode DTS-MA, that's the last update I did.